By Gavin Mackintosh-
Croydon Council residents are facing difficulties in accessing telephone lines to pay council tax, and many are facing prosecution over the challenges.
Inaccessible telephone lines due to staff shortages have prevented many residents from paying their council tax through the usual method because of staff shortages, designed to save costs.
The South London Council has been slapping an extra charge of £235 to residents who have failed to pay their council tax, disregarding the problem of their telephone network which has made it virtually impossible for payments to be made by those who cannot get through.
Croydon Council told this publication that it still receives an average 1,600 calls a week, adding that they are aware of a very small number of complaints (less than five) of people who are unable to access the phone. They urged people experiencing issues with the phone to get in touch via the website.
A spokesperson told The Eye Of Media.Com: ”We have been experiencing intermittent issues with our phones – we are really sorry for the inconvenience this has caused and we are investing in upgrading our whole telephony system in the new year. In the meantime, we would encourage residents to get in touch via our website, www.croydon.gov.uk, where you can access a wide range of services, including council tax payment.”
However, those weekly numbers provided by the council has been disputed by one Croydon resident, who anonymously told us: ” figures are easily plucked out of thin air to make things look good, but the question is why this council, so differently from others, cannot be accessed on phone by residents to pay their council tax bill. Then they get penalised for it as a result, how fair is that? ”
”The council talks of poeple going on their website, but not everybody is computer literate or has internet access, or has the presence of mind or means to find and internet cafe to go on their website. Many people will not even be aware that the website is an alternative way to pay council tax bills”
Three members of this publication sampled the telophone line over a two hour period today, but had no success in getting through. Further attempts will be made tomorrow to assess the true extent of inaccessibility to its phone lines.
The Council Tax payment phone lines alongside many Croydon services are expected to be open 30 hours each week, from 10am to 4pm on weekdays.
Some Croydon residents don’t even believe they should be paying council tax in the face of inadequate services from the council who has ignored the cries of manty of its constituents for years, leaving them to suffer.
The failings of the council this year has dominated national news headlines on more than one occasion this year because of some of the dire conditions in which residential properties have been left.
Hiring extra staff to man the phones appears to be beyond the budget of the battered council, though its representatives expect the problem to be fully rectified early in the new year.
Senior officials in the council have been changed several times this year, with many forced to step down in the wake of shameful scandals that has made it one of Britain’s most notorious councils, but new personnel in the council are trying to improve its tarnished name.
Complaints from disgruntled residents are ongoing, with those lucky enough to get their issues listened to, not so fortunate to experience a solution.
Recruitment Ads
The Eye Of Media.Com has learnt that new CEO, Kerswell and her “executive leadership team” have put up recruitment ads for eight director posts offering salaries amounting to over £120m a yer each.
It remains to be seen what these new members would do to improve the tarnished name of the council brought about by a bunch of irresponsible former council executives.
In August 2020, Croydon Council announced the departure of Jo Negrini, who took with her a massive £440,000 pay off, leaving £1.5 bn.
Just two weeks ago, Neil Williams, Croydon’s first chief digital officer who was appointed by Katherine Kerswell to take on additional responsibilities, had enough with the council’s woes and changed jobs to work with the British Film Institute at Waterloo, where it has been announced that he will start in early 2022 as their new executive director of technology and transformation.
The six figured salaryw as insufficient to keep him in Croydon Council, making many wonder exactly why he didn’t stay longer.
Short lived stay at council: Neil Williams: Image:croydonbid.com
All current senior executives at the council are high earners, but between them have failed to introduce anything transformative to improve the lives of the several thousands in the borough who are literally fed up of the sub standard life they live under this council.
The sorry state of affairs at the battered council will make any Mp ashamed to have their name mentioned in the same breadth as the council, but such is the case for Mp Sarah Jones, who after many years at Croydon Council appears to have failed to kick its top executives into gear and clean up the council by establishing more competent and responsible professionals there.